RECEBT BOOKS How TO SOLVE PROBLENS IN PHYSICAL CHBMISTRY.JoseQh A . Babor, Associate Professor of Chemistry, The College of the City of New York, and Gwrett W. Thiessen, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Monmouth College. Thomas Y. Crowell 215 pp. 14 X 21.3 cm. Company. New York, 1944. x $1.25. Paper cover. ~h~ purpose of this hook is to give the student of chemistry the extra training in problem solving that is required by most and for which time is commonly lacking. Most phases of the usual course in the subject are covered-gases, liquids, solids, physical properties, solutions, electrolytes, colloids, thermochemistry, homogeneous and heterogeneous equilibrium. kinetics, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry. The dimensional approach is stressed. This should be very helpful. Nearly every type of problem is illustrated by a t least one example, worked out in great detail, with reasons given for each step. A reasonable selection of problems, to be worked by the student, is attached to each chapter. Answers are fur. nished. References are confined to four of the more commonly used texts. There are 10 tables of useful data, the most im. portant of which are four-place logs and antilogs, atomic weights, commonly used derivatives and integrals, and important con. stants and units. The only error noted is on page 192. The calculation of transference numbers should he based on solvent weights and not solution weights. Practically this is not serious, but its implication should be pointed out. I t seems the following might have been included with profit: how to handle the van der Wads equation when quantities are not molal; how to correct for the volume occupied by the vapor in the dynamic method for measwing vapor pressure; and the graphic method for calculating dipole moments. The chapter on electrochemistry, especially as it relates to electromotive force, is quite skimpy, there being no discussion of the Gibbs-Helmholtz equation, of concentration cells, liquid junctions, standard potentials and activity, etc. However, aside from this small section, the book is very well done indeed. Teachers of physical chemistry will do well to consider its use as a supplement to their basic courses. M. HARING
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UNIVBRSLTY OF MARYLAND c o ~ ~ s a ma, n MARYLAND
ENZYMETECHNOLOGY. Henry Tauher. John Wiley and Sons. Inc., New York, 1943. vii f 275 PP. 46 figs. 46 tables. 15 X 22 cm. S . 5 0 . This interesting book is almost free from typographical errors. On page 124 "Youngburg" is misspelled and on page 195 "peptic" has been written when "pectic" is meant. The hook might he improved if it contained a glossary of such terms as: Polenske numbers, combined wheat, mash bill, sparger, Vegefat, and krausen stage. I f d-lactic acid on page 116 were written d(-) lactic acid one could be sure what was meant. When Tauher says
on page 52 that the yield of alcohol is 90 per cent one must assume that be means 90 per cent of the theoretical. On page 9 he states that yeast is a complete protein. Of course we understand that he means yeast contains all of the essential amino acids for nutrition of the rat. When he says that the amount of invertase in the barley plant greatly exceeds the sucrose present we understand that only traces of sucrose occur, while invertase activity is considerable. Page 145 Tauber says that whenanimalsaregiven nonlethal doses of urease they acquire a tolerance, citing his own work as evidence. He might better have stated that rabbits can be made immune to urease. as shown by the really important work of irk and Sumner. Again, on page 186 he mentions the method of Tauber and Kleiner for preparing highly activerennin, hut makes no mention of the preparation of crystalline rennin by Hankinson. 0" Page 220 Tauber says that R.J. S ~ ~ nfound e r that carotene is destroyed by a hypothetical f a t oxidation product produced by Lipoxidase. This was discovered by Sumner and Sumner two Years earlier. The hook plain$ shows that Tauber has done a vast amount of reading and that he possessesanup-to-date knowledgeof enzyme technology. The hook is valuable and fills a real need. I recommend "Enzyme Technology" to every chemist and to everyone Connected with and nutrition. JAMES B. S ~ N E R ~
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IN BIOLOOICAL CHEMISTRY.Jamex LABORATORY EXP~RIMENTS B. Scmner and G. Fred Somers, Professor and Instructor, respectively, of Biochemistry. Cornell University. Academic 169 pp. 17 figs. 8 Press, Inc., New York, 1944. vi tables. 14.5 x 22 cm. $2.60. hi^ little manual gave your reviewer the same kind of thrills from a hig entitled, ,,The that he used to derive Boy Mechanic": namely, "I'd like to try to make that . . . and see what my "lass could do preparation, demonstrate is with those techniques,u The variety of experiments truly fascinating. The directions have been written as a result of long experience with the way in which students go about their laboratory work in biochemistry, as well as with the way in which best results can he obtained. Therefore the volume begins with 14 pages of most telling and specific "General Instructions." These cover the arrangement of reagents in the laboratory, use of notebooks, safety rules, qualitative and quantitative techniques, and thecare and cleaning of simple as well as complex equipment. The authors do their utmost to make sure that the student really absorbs this information by frequent references hack to it. As stated in its preface, the manual outlines a very general course in laboratory biochemistry in order t o provide fundamental training to students in any field of study. The experiments range all the way from the simplest qualitative tests to the most exact-
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